


The Night of the Jinx

by Quoshara



Series: Bits and bits and bits. (Prompt fics in various fandoms) [5]
Category: Wild Wild West (TV)
Genre: Challenge Response, Fluff, Gen, Minor Violence, Trains
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-31
Updated: 2011-12-31
Packaged: 2017-10-28 13:57:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/308572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quoshara/pseuds/Quoshara
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are just some things you don't say, don't ask. Jim has never been very good at listening to that rule.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Night of the Jinx

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hardboiledbaby](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hardboiledbaby/gifts).



> A short ficlet from my LJ 'Challenge Me'.

* * *

The train moved down the track, just like it had so many times before. They passed through tunnels they had gone through before, passed the same telegraph poles that cast the same eerie, repeating shadows as they obscured the moonlight shining in through the windows of the Wanderer. The cars made their usual groans and clacks as they passed over the rails, made the same shifts that caused walking to be a learned skill rather than the automatic and natural gesture it would otherwise be. If he opened a window he could probably smell the coal from the firebox or maybe the scent of hay from the stable car behind them.

Usually he found the sameness to be comforting but for some reason tonight—

"I'm bored, Artie."

"Hmmmm?" Artemus had his nose deep in a book, one hand wrapped loosely around a glass of brandy that he had been sipping intermittently. That too was a very common sight, but one that could still make Jim smile, no matter the rest of his mental state.

"I said, I'm bored. Isn't there something more exciting to do?"

"I really wish you hadn't asked me that, James." Artie sat down his drink and closed his book, one finger tucked inside to hold his place. "It's like a jinx. Every time you do, something horrible happens."

Horrible things _had_ happened to them, far too often in Jim's opinion. Bad luck and bad men had taken their toll through the years but that had nothing to do with jinxes or anything he'd said. It was ridiculous to think otherwise.

"Oh, Artie," Jim scoffed, "don't you think you're exaggerating?"

"Fish," Artie said cryptically, raising one eyebrow in a skeptical manner.

"Alright, but you really can't blame that one on me, I wasn't even--"

"And this…." Artie tugged his shirt tail out, exposing a long jagged scar over his ribs.

"Okay, that one _might_ be my—"

"--And freezing, James. I came this close to losing two toes, not to mention other appendages that are fairly precious to—"

"Okay! Okay!" James gave his partner a mock scowl. "I won't mention being bored again. I promise."

Artie relaxed back into his chair with a self-satisfied expression on his face and reopened his book.

"Artie?"

"Yes, James," Artie's sigh could only be called long-suffering.

"There's nothing to do."

"God! Are you six?"

James cackled and then ducked as Artie's book came flying at his head.

 

**


End file.
